JOs: Stick Your Neck Out

CDR Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 08:34:19 -0500

I know this is Navy centric but some of the points made should ring true in the other services as well.

http://blog.usni.org/2015/01/22/stick-your-neck-out-2

Would you ever write a controversial piece?

Stick Your Neck Out

“Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.” -President John Adams If John Adams were a junior officer in the Navy today, his admonition to his fellow officers might read something like this: Le...

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2015 10:44 AM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 10:44:23 -0500

I think the reality, sir, is that there's a strong feeling of self preservation in all of us, so we have to walk a very fine line while trying to innovate. And I think the more senior an officer (or NCO) becomes, the more latitude he/she has with voicing innovative ideas that go against established norms.

As the article says (and I think this applies to all the services): "the US Navy seems to have institutionalized and incentivized intellectual conformity in both strategy and policy through a culture that discourages professional intellectual dissent in favor of promotability."

There are exceptions, such as the special programs the article points out (and similar ones in other services), but for the most part, conformity is the name of the game.